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Another program you may find useful is Archivos. I saw it demo'd at BaltiCon (a local lit-focused con) last spring. https://archivos.digital/ from their "about" page: First, ARCHIVOS helps S...
Create a fictional country if there are no existing ones that meet your needs. Or if you need to change things enough that it would be confusing or off putting to place your characters there. If ...
In scientific academic settings, the original article should be preferred, read and cited, and an effort should be made to do so. It is however acceptable to refer to a more recent one under certai...
It depends on your audience and/or publisher. If this is a paper for a class, you're probably fine. But if this is your thesis/dissertation or something you're going to publish, you need to see t...
I find myself in a similar position with my novel and it's in the modern age (1995, with a couple quick chapters in 1942 and 2020) and in the past in a time and place that actually existed (even if...
The answer I'll give you here is the same as the ones I've already given you and others: write what works for you. If these are who the characters are, then that's who they are. If you're forcing...
My answer is somewhat similar to the ones already given, even from a slightly different perspective. I had forgotten about their races because it wasn't important to me and I had not noticed wh...
If it is a scientific article, or scientific text, then by all means use the most precise term. In this case that would be either Aluminium or Aluminum. Pick the one that you prefer and be consiste...
Like with so many non-mainstream settings or ideas, just present it as normal. Give a minimum of information but allow the reader to figure much of it out. Many works use the troupe of using a na...
Make a spreadsheet. In case you don't know: A spreadsheet is a file which stores data in a tabular form. Popular software for spreadsheet making are, of course, Microsoft Excel or the open source...
In visual media - there's been a few that have worked quite well (either with limited vocalizations, indecipherable vocalizations or none). Some noteworthy examples - Groot (from Guardians of The ...
Why do writers add unnecessary commas to sentences just because they're long? While it's true that some writers, maddeningly, do not use sufficient punctuation, it's also the case that some people...
If you are in pain, you will have a hard time concentrating, which can make a conversation a bit disjointed. You will pause, catch your breath, maybe close your eyes. You will stumble over words,...
The way a character talks reflects their social class, their level of education, where they come from, what kind of people they are and how the see the world. The last one in particular is key - if...
Intelligence is manifested in how one thinks: how one views problems, and how one solves them. Eliezer Yudkowsky, author of Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality, explains his approach to the...
By treating each of your characters as individuals. Gender is an important characteristic, but it's not the only one. If all your female characters speak one way and all your male characters anot...
One of the most touching scenes in The Lord of the Rings reads: And so Gollum found them hours later, when he returned, crawling and creeping down the path out of the gloom ahead. Sam sat propp...
I used to have the same issue. Even if I planned ahead of time, I would read again my previous session and find myself editing it. There were multiple reasons for that. First, in between sessions I...
Do you actually need to write longer narratives? A sparse writing style can often work well. Here, every word is important. You must carefully choose what you say and how you say it because you ...
Coming from a very short, scene and dialogue oriented style, I struggle with this too. I'd argue that sometimes you want brevity and a few quick lines of dialog between two characters are all that ...
I am a discovery writer; and one that completes novels. The key here, I think, is to remember you are discovering the story. If you are in the middle of the second act, then you have discovered h...
Readers will buy anything, if you can sell it. Vampires, wizards, talking animals, superpowers, sentient flat figures... Readers don't look for a realistic story. They look for a good story. Any pr...
I suggest you continue to write however the words come out. Because the last thing you want to do is feel like you can't write unless it's perfect (or better). Every day, go through a paragraph o...
I don't care about pronunciation, because I rarely pronounce even semi-common names correctly. I have trouble with even some of my own characters' names. But then, for me, written language and sp...
Hard-to-pronounce names suggest a different culture. If War and Peace had its characters named not Andrei Nikolayevich Bolkonsky and Pierre Kirillovich Bezukhov, but Andrew Bolk and Peter Bek; or i...
